What the Flowers Whispered
by Chesh Writes
Summary: fate worked in the oddest ways. for example, it sent him crashing into the window and twisted up his life with that of a beautiful and fascinating florist. not very conventional. but nice, he supposed.
1. broken windows

**a/n**: i'm really weak when it comes to flowers... that's probably why i identify with Evergreen so much, since she's also in love with flowers. and the thought of her being a florist was so cute that i had to make an au. i'll be writing this and i hope to update frequently, even though i'm also working on _little talks _as my main project!

* * *

There was a crowd around them, pointing and generally staring. Glass littered the ground, trampled flowers were hanging off the curb, and there was a very small, very pretty, and very _angry _woman in an apron with her hands fisted into the collar of Elfman's shirt. There was a fire in her eyes so passionate and hot his face burned, painfully so. He closed his eyes and looked away, utterly ashamed.

He hated getting into bad situations like this.

* * *

"Elfman, my order at the Rose Garden is ready! Mind picking it up for me?"

Mirajane was bustling about, trying to stack food on multiple plates and attempting to ease her customers. Lisanna was swooping through, taking orders and writing hurriedly before scampering back to the kitchen. Elfman put down a knife.

"I think that you need to hire some more help," he said. "The cafe's been gettin' a lot more popular since we were in that news article. Another few waitresses and an extra cook could be helpful."

His older sister sighed as she poured a glass of pink lemonade. "I know, I know. I intend to put up some ads soon and do some interviews. Lucy came in and said she was looking for a job… I could hire her."

Elfman was wrestling his tangled up coat off of the hook. "You could ask Levy to be in charge of finances and books and stuff. It's manly how much she eats that stuff up."

A woman trying to manage her children called out to Mirajane and the young woman hurried over, calling over her shoulder, "The address and money is on the table over there! Get the flowers and come back quickly please!"

That was how it had started.

He walked down the street, occasionally glancing up to make sure he had the right road, and continued on. He'd been to the florist only once before, a month or so ago, and had been met with a tiny, quivering girl, clearly intimidated by his size, who shoved the flowers into his chest and darted back behind the counter. Needless to say, it had been an awkward experience, and he hoped the same girl wasn't there again. He didn't want to frighten her.

Elfman took a wide stride so he didn't accidentally step on a small dog, then hastily apologized to the owner before continuing on his way. It was awkward, really, how he had to always be looking down to make sure he didn't step on any dogs or cats or very small children, but after a few years, he'd adjusted to it.

One thing he'd never adjusted to, however, was the irritation of how his height made him stand out. There were always people staring at him, people who approached him in search of a fight. In high school, he'd been suspended five times for being involved in a fight. He'd never started them, though. He'd only been pinned as the culprit because he was so much larger, intimidating, and usually had not as many bruises as the other guy.

The rough footsteps behind him indicated that there was a thug following him. The clinking of the chains on his pants also gave him away. When Elfman turned, the thug turned. When he increased his stride, he did also. He sighed and stopped, turning around to look at whoever it was that pursued him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

The man was, surprisingly, only about half a foot shorter than Elfman himself. He had black hair that he'd combed back to lay stylishly, and wore loose jeans and a red t-shirt. He took off his sunglasses and stared up at the man he'd been stalking.

"You're a pretty big guy," was all he said.

"I am." Elfman crossed his arms and contemplated an escape.

"What are you… About seven foot? Maybe taller? Weigh around 350 pounds?" He whistled. "Real big guy."

"Thanks for noticing," Elfman mumbled. "I've got to go. I need to run some errands for my sist-!"

The man knocked his forearm against Elfman's chest, but he barely felt it. "Tell you what, man. You're big, I'm big- If you win, I'll pay you a hefty sum. If I win…meh, I'll decide later."

"I don't want to fight," he growled. "This is a public street, and-"

The man threw a punch.

His instincts kicked in and he fought back, blocking every punch with almost expert precision. The adrenaline rush acted like a painkiller: He barely felt it when a fist was buried into his abdomen or when he was kicked. Fighting always put him in some sort of trance that he was barely conscious of. He moved by muscle memory, throwing a punch, blocking, sending a right hook, until he just lost track. The thing that usually knocked him out of it was the sound of his sisters' voices as they got involved, but what snapped him into conscious activity again was a hard headbutt from the thug that sent him stumbling back.

He got thrown into a window.

The glass shattered as his back whacked against the thin sheet. A cart overturned next to him, water pouring out of it, and flowers scattered about. There were shrieks from where the glass had broken, but Elfman didn't even turn to apologize or check if anyone was okay. The man was rushing at him again with a fist raised over his shoulder, and he heaved himself up and rammed into the other man, sending him sprawling.

The man stayed down, but only because he was too wobbly to stand. Elfman sighed and rolled his shoulders, embarrassed by the crowd that had gathered. He wiped the blood from his nose and turned to pick up the overturned cart, but the door to the shop he'd shattered swung open. A short brunette woman stormed out, looking fiercely back and forth. She had a handful of small white flowers in her hand that she tossed down angrily.

"Hey!" she shouted in a voice that seemed almost too loud for someone her size.

It wasn't possible to play dumb. He was bloody and had glass stuck to his coat. He took a nervous step back as she stalked up to him, reaching out and wrapping her fists up in the collar of his shirt. He swallowed and stared down at her. She had to stand on the very tips of her toes to even be able to reach his neck.

"You crashed into my shop!" she exclaimed.

"Uhh…"  
"Look at my window! It's a wreck! And you ruined all my delphiniums I had lined up there for a display!" Her eyes went a little misty, but she blinked, the fire coming back. "You're lucky I didn't have my forsythias there! Then you would be paying big time!"

The man he'd beaten up was now starting to wobble to his feet. He tried to stumble away from the scene, but the brunette woman thrust Elfman away from her with surprising force and strode towards him, elegance and anger in every step.

"And you! One of my shopgirls said you were the one who shoved that oaf into the window! You're equally responsible."

As though the "r-word" was poisonous to him, he flinched and turned, suddenly able to run faster. An angry growl erupted out of the woman's throat and she started a chase, but the man swiftly kicked a garbage can on the sidewalk over. With a yelp, she tripped on it, and the man made his escape, though a few people from the crowd were giving a weak chase.

"H-hey!" Elfman whipped himself out of his shock and ran over towards her.

He held out a hand to her. Both her eyes were narrowed in discomfort and her hair was falling out of its loose ponytail. Her arms trembled as she supported herself and one foot was still tangled in the rails on the trashcan. The spectating crowd was now gathered about them. Her face was turning red and, with a harsh yank and a soft snapping and popping sound, she wrenched her foot out of the rails.

"Do you need help up?" he asked. He was now especially concerned with the sound that he'd just heard.

The woman's hand shot out, smacking away his own. It stung and he recoiled, sitting back on his haunches and holding his smarting wound.

"D-don't touch me! I can get up on my own!"

Wobbly and unsteadily, and with pain obvious on her face, she stood. A few from the crowd had their hands out hesitantly, leaning further towards her with every uncertain move she made. She waved them away, albeit much more politely than she had him, and rounded on him again when the spectators stepped back.

"Look at my shop!" she shouted. "The glass! My cart!" Her head whipped towards him and the fire was upon him again. "What are _you _going to do about it?"

"Hey, the other guy pushed me in! It's only manly to put the blame on him!" Elfman waved his arm off towards where the thug had fled.

"Is that some sort of adverb for you?" she snapped. "In any case, you see the punk? No. You were involved in the fight and take the brunt of the responsibility until I find that guy's ugly face again."

He took a step back, almost tempted to retreat as his opponent had. This woman was surprisingly frightening, now that he got a good look at her. She was wearing delicate and feminine clothing: A long, ankle-length red skirt and black blouse, an immaculately clean white apron covering her. Her hair was long and insanely curly, and he had to wonder just how much longer it would be if it were straight. A dotted headband held stray hairs out of place. Despite her gentle look, she definitely had muscle on her arms and a savage face. Her eyes were fire and they paralyzed him.

Definitely, she was pretty. Loke would be wooing her where she stood. He wished that his suave friend were here to charm him out of situations, just like he always did.

"M-maybe I can fix it." He looked at the window. Another shard of glass fell from the frame. "I… I can't fix it."

"Of course you can't," she muttered, limping past him. She looked dejected now, rubbing her arm and dragging her right leg along. "I'll hire someone to do it. Just pay me back sometime."

"B-but-!"

A heavy thumping sound came from the broken shop. A wildly concerned young man flew out the door, looking left and right for something. His hair was a deep green, tied up into a ponytail. His face was effeminate, though his jaw was strong and he was clearly male. Over dark jeans and a red t-shirt, he wore a white apron, almost similar to the shopkeeper's. When he caught sight of her, he rushed over.

"Ever! I heard a crash! Why's there glass all over the place? Your shop- Is your leg alright? It's turning red… No, don't walk on it! I'll carry you up to the apartment and have a look at it."

Ignoring her sputtering, the young man swept her up into his arms bridal-style with no effort at all. Elfman stared, a hand on the back of his neck, and the woman looked at him warily. Her attention also pulled the young man's eyes to him. An unpleasant and angry look greeted Elfman.

"Did you do this? Wreck her shop and hurt her leg?" He took a step forward, grip tightening on the young lady. "You better-"

"Freed!" she scolded. He immediately retreated, his anger turning to a resentful glare towards Elfman. "He was in a fight. Some thug knocked him through the window. He's going to pay for it. _Right_?"

Elfman sputtered out something, embarrassed at the two's closeness, oddly enough.

"What about your leg?" the young man asked.

"Got my foot tangled up in that trash can over there when the punk tried to lose me. Doesn't hurt _that _bad."

The crowd was dispersing, continuing their daily lives, and a couple of shopgirls came out of the ruined shop and began to collect the undamaged flowers.

_Flowers_.

Elfman, wearily and hoping against fate, looked at the sign swinging from a metal bar, just above a window. The sign read "The Rose Garden." Awkward as it might be, he still had an errand to run for his sister.

"Excuse me!" The two looked at him, vaguely annoyed, maybe. He bowed and held out the note from his sister. "I'm a customer!"

"You've got to be kidding."

* * *

"Here it is." The woman took a large vase wrapped in a ribbon from a shelf, gently placing it on the counter between them. "Roses and lilies, just like your sister asked for."

She was still wobbling on her right leg, awkwardly placing her weight on her left. Elfman scrounged around his pocket to get to his wallet, then almost dropped it once it was in his hands. The man in the apron seemed more annoyed with him now than anything, and his girlfriend (he _assumed _they were together) had abandoned annoyance for pain and tiredness. After struggling, he pulled out the yen assigned to the order. She took it and slipped it into her apron pocket, then came around, clinging to the counter for support.

"I expect that payment soon," she hissed through her teeth. "And now I know where you work, so don't try to run from me."

"It wouldn't be manly to do that," he asserted, holding the vase tightly in his hands. He held it up almost like a shield between them. "By the way… These are very nice."

The woman showed no sign of happiness, but she looked away with an embarrassed face. "It's my job to make it look nice. Don't act so surprised. Now, get out. I have to clean up and call a repairman."

"A-again, I'm sorry! I'll pay you back really soon! And your leg looks like it hurts pretty bad. If you want, I can even help around here." He scoffed a little bit and looked down. "Even if it isn't a very manly job."

"Let's not assign gender stereotypes to working in flower shops," she muttered. "Fine, fine, if you wanna work off some of the debt, I expect to see you as soon as the shop reopens."

"I'll do whatever you want," Elfman affirmed. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Stop apologizing," she said. "It's done. Now, excuse me. I have to go put something on my leg, unfortunately."

The green-haired man glared at him until he shuffled towards the door. As his hand rested on the doorknob, however, he turned to look at her as she opened a backdoor.

"Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't even know your name. I'm Elfman."

The young woman looked back at him. "It's Evergreen. It's in your best interest not to forget it."

"I'll remember," he said.

Without another word, he rushed out the door and down the street, his face burning and heart racing. The past hour had been much too eventful, for the both of them.


	2. hot water

**a/n**: and here is chapter 2! i'm sorry if there are any mistakes, but i'm not feeling well and was really lazy with my final editing... this chapters is essentially a recap of the first chapter with a liiiiiitle extra at the end!

* * *

What Evergreen had expected when she woke up that morning was a sunny sky with a few, wispy clouds, and a calm business day.

Freed had breakfast all cooked by the time she was awake, as usual, and she'd read a book while she'd eaten. Afterwards had come a shower, some fiddling with her always-impossible hair, smoothing a thin layer of makeup over her face, and putting on her clothes.

She'd gone downstairs to the store, checked that all the day's orders were prepped and not wilting, then opened up the shop. The first employee, a cute girl with cherry-red hair in pigtails, walked through the door shortly after, greeted her with a smile, and put on her apron and went to work. The second one, a lovely dark-skinned girl with deep green eyes, did the same. Customers came into the shop at the slow, steady pace they always did. Some perused through the flowers, others leaned in to sniff, some asked questions, and some were there only to pick up orders and leave.

Two of three roommates came charging down the stairs throughout the morning and went off to work with lazy waves to her and yawns erupting from their mouths. That left only Freed upstairs, where he was likely reading and/or cooking until his shift at Yajima's restaurant came near and he left.

People bustled around outside. Ever sat down behind the counter and put her head on her arms. The last customer inside went out with a bushel of daisies in hand, and she shut her eyes to listen to the noise outside: Footsteps, mothers yelling, smooth-spoken barters, dull music playing from multiple areas, all mashed into a soothing sort of sound.

And then, there was the sound of heavy footsteps, the familiar sound of a fist on a face, and her ears perked towards the sounds.

"Ah, there's a fight going on outside!" The cherry-hair girl unconsciously picked up a pot of flowers and moved back from the window. "Both of them look scary."

"Just stay inside, Annie," the dark-skinned girl commented aloofly. "It's probably just a scuffle. Unless, you know, the boss lady wants to go out and do a little somethin' 'bout the punks fightin' by her shop."

Evergreen didn't lift her head from her arms or open her eyes, and only continued to listen to the muffled sounds. "Someone else'll stop 'em. I'm too tired to go deal with a couple of idiot men."

"They're getting pretty close, Miss… Lilica, b-back away from the window! What if something happens?"

Lilica leaned an arm against the glass, arching over the delphiniums to see the fight better. She whistled. "Don't be scared, Annie. But, dude, both of those guys are preeeetty big."

Finally, the commotion grew louder and louder, enough to stir her stomach anxiously. It was too close for her own liking. Ever opened her eyes and hopped off the stool, went around the counter, and walked through the shop with a sigh. "If nobody else will break them up, I guess I-! Hey!"

They were right at the shop now, yanking at each other and punching. The smaller man (if it was even right to call him 'small') jumped back on the balls of his feet and leaned forward. That was something she'd seen punks in high school do when they got into fights with Laxus- it was the best way to knock someone who was bigger than you off their feet. As the man lunged forward, Ever shoved the young woman by the window into her arms and threw them away.

A devastating crash entered the shop just as they hit the ground, a safe distance from the window, fortunately. Multiple smaller crashes followed. Water flew into the air. People outside were yelling and Annie on the inside was squeaking.

Ever squinted her eyes open, watching the silhouette of a massive man shake his head, sending droplets of water flying, then get up and ram into the other man. The window was completely shattered. So was the display of flowers. Every pot and vase was smashed to the floor and broken, water leaking from shelves and stray petals sprinkling the floor.

She was _**enraged**_.

"M-Miss! Lilica!" Annie nervously stepped forward. The pot she held was thrusted in front of her like a shield. "Are you okay? That other man just shoved him into the window!"

Lilica was spluttering out something while her boss scrabbled to her feet, ungracefully slipping on water. Her right ankle twisted as she fell back down and she winced. The redhead twittered over softly, flapping her hands anxiously. Ever stood up, stomped down her slightly injured foot, and ran for the door.

A man the size of a mountain was standing outside, huffing, puffing, his back drenched with water, and he reached for her cart that he'd overturned. Scarlet blood was dripping down his face from his nose and he was half-heartedly trying to mop it up.

The culprit.

"Hey!"

He flinched and turned towards her. His nose was still bleeding over his dark skin and the upper half of his left eye was was a rip on the abdomen of his shirt, and he looked overall tired and wobbly, almost pitiful.

But she would have no mercy.

Her hands balled up into the collar of his shirt, and she stood on her tiptoes and yanked him down to her. "Look at my window! It's a wreck! And you ruined all my delphiniums I had lined up there for a display!" They had been such nice flowers. Her eyes misted a little, but it only made her more angry and she blinked it off. "You're lucky I didn't have my forsythias there! Then you would be paying big time!"

The massive man only stuttered and tripped over his words. Grunts behind her drew her attention. His opponent was stumbling to his feet, waving his arms like wings for leverage. Culprit number two. She shoved the man away from her, harshness intended, and stalked to the other one with a pointed finger.

"And you! One of my shopgirls said you were the one who shoved _that _oaf into the window! You're equally responsible."

Fear entered his eyes, whether from the prospect of responsibility or the fire in her own, she didn't know. But he started running, his balance recovered, and he was surprisingly fast. But he just couldn't get far after getting knocked down by someone as large as the man he'd fought with, so she started to give chase.

By the time he threw the trash can down, she'd gained too much speed to stop and tripped, her already-smarting ankle tangling up in one of the rails. The man gave her a quick glance, but kept running. A few from the crowd weakly started after him, clearly not committed to chasing him seriously. Others were hovering towards her now, a few softly asking if she was okay as she twisted around to try and pull herself free.

The first man shouted and rushed to her, holding out a hand. All eyes were on her and she admitted: It was too much. She was embarrassed, stuck, and her shop was broken. The shop she'd saved all throughout high school to build, working three jobs, all while maintaining a good grade average, and the front of it was just smashed in and shattered.

It was enough to make anyone cry.

But Evergreen was _not _anyone, and she wouldn't let the embarrassment or the trash can stop her. With a harsh yank, her foot ripped free of the railing… though she felt an uncomfortable pop and snap, and it felt like, just for a second, someone had poured hot lava over her ankle. The pain was extremely intense and she hoped she hadn't broken anything.

"Do you need help up?" he asked, his hand still held out.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, smacking away his hand as hard as she could.

He retreated back, holding his hand lightly. The crowd was leaning towards her, but she waved them off, keeping her burning eyes on him. She got a good look at him now: He was significantly taller than her, by probably at least a foot-and-a-half, meaning he probably neared seven feet. Under the thin jacket he wore was hard muscle that rolled as he shook out his hand. His pure white hair was still dripping water droplets from the very end at a rhythmic pace.

It angered her, but he was _stupidly _cute. Not necessarily what she would define as the best looking guy in the world, but definitely more handsome than she had first registered, especially with the blood from the fight still leaking from his nose; it gave him that ragged look she'd always been ridiculously attracted to. It looked stupid and out of place with the "Hurt Puppy" look he was wearing.

Honestly, though, she didn't give a crap about how cute he was.

"Look at my shop!" she shouted as she stumbled up. "The glass! My cart!" Her head whipped towards him away from the glass and her frightened employees peering out. "What are _you _going to do about it?"

"Hey, the other guy pushed me in!" he yelled. "It's only manly to put the blame on him!"

"You see the punk?" she sneered. "No. You were involved in the fight and take the brunt of the responsibility until I find that guy's ugly face again."

He stepped back and Ever feared he would run like the other. Her ankle was burning intensely and she definitely wouldn't be able to give any sort of chase. Just barely standing on it, even with all her weight shifted to the left, was near agonizing. But he whipped his head towards the window, clearly steeling his nerves, and muttered about how he could fix it, but then changed his mind.

"Of course you can't," she muttered, limping past him. A sense of dread and sorrow settled in her and she rubbed her arms. "I'll hire someone to do it. Just pay me back sometime."

He sputtered in protest, but Freed was through the door the next instant to take her attention, apron on and looking around wildly. He rushed for them, arms slightly extended to reach out for her, and began sputtering angrily about the shop, then turning his attention to her leg. Without hearing a single word of protest from her, he picked her up, and her ankle immediately stopped the burning feeling.

"Did you do this?" he asked, hostilely stepping towards the man. "Wreck her shop and hurt her leg? You better-"

"Freed!" she hushed, and he fell silent. "He was in a fight. Some thug knocked him through the window. He's going to pay for it. _Right_?"

She sent The Glare (as it was called in the apartment) towards him once more, and he only muttered something unintelligible while she explained her injury to Freed. Annie and Lilica hurried out of the store as the crowd lost interest, righting the overturned cart and picking up stray flowers.

The most shocking thing that had happened, however, was when he called for their attention again, bowed, and shoved a piece of paper towards them.

"I'm a customer!"

Freed narrowed his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."

Evergreen slapped his shoulder scoldingly and he set her down, still keeping a hand on her shoulder.

"Come inside then. Get your order and get out."

"I-it's for a Mirajane Strauss," he informed as they walked inside, stepping through wreckage. "My older sister."

The order was up front, filled with fragrant roses and lilies, arranged one after the other in a thick vase. She almost tripped over her hurt ankle getting behind the counter, but righted herself and retrieved her work from the shelf.

"Here it is. Roses and lilies, just like your sister asked for."

She was exhausted from the excitement now, and her pain was starting to overwhelm her once more. The man took them, softly said something about them being very nice, offered to help around, and began to move towards the door when she shooed him away with the order to return in a few days, but he turned back to her with his hand on the doorknob.

"Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't even know your name. I'm Elfman."

Freed was guiding her up the stairs, but stopped pulling her along so she could look at him. He looked anxious, almost like a young boy as he flushed with embarrassment and waited for her to answer.

"It's Evergreen," she said. She took another step up the stairs. "It's in your best interest not to forget it."

"I definitely won't forget," was the last thing he said before he opened the door.

Annie and Lilica looked after him as he quickly walked down the street. The dark-skinned young woman leaned against her broom. "Interesting one. Big as a skyscraper, but he seems awful gentle."

"He was scary!" Annie asserted. "Really big and with a scary face!"

"I think you were just paying attention to the blood," her companion teased. "C'mon, keep cleanin'. The boss lady isn't gonna be on the foot for the rest of the day at least."

Their bickering faded into only background noise when Freed shut the door to the apartment.

"Let's look at that leg," he said as he eased her into her knitting chair. "It's getting really swollen."

"Do I have to go to the doctor?" she asked. "I hate doctor's offices."

He began to prod at it and she hissed in pain. The ankle was mostly red, but shifting into a purple shade towards her calf. Her foot hung almost limply from the rest of her leg, a ghastly, detached look that made her want to vomit. Her roommate poked and prodded and even shook it until she shrieked at him to stop. He finally declared his findings.

"It's not broken, just a little sprained and delocated. If you stay really still, I can pop it back into place and then get it taped up. Of course, a doctor _would _be suggested-" At this point, he glanced up, checked her disapproving face, and went back to feeling her foot. "But of course you won't do that. You're such a kid."

"It feels like they're going to dissect me or something!" she argued. "It's creepy and I hate it."

Even going into the hospital back when Laxus was constantly in fights gave her heart palpitations. People looked scared, some cried, the walls were too white, the nurses wore fake smiles as they held up injections… It was bad. There was suffering and a feeling of death clinging all around. Laxus had always been angry and snarling at the doctors and nurses around him when they'd tried to fix his bleeding, but the guy in the bed adjacent was always worse off.

With a swift shove and a burning pain, Freed had her ankle back in place without her even focusing on it. She yipped and pulled it away from him. It throbbed painfully and her eyes sprouted tears. Freed, however, reached and gently brought it back to him and began to wrap it in a heavy gauze from the medical kit at his side. She sniffed and let him.

"Stay off it for a few days. By then, the window should be repaired and you can open shop again." He folded his arms and stood. "I'm still miffed that that man ran away! He should be paying an equal amount as that other one that came in!"

"Men are idiots," Evergreen declared. "He was scared of being accountable, so he ran away. But I got a good look at his face, and unless he flees the city, I'm gonna find him and _make _him pay."

"Give him that glare of yours," he said. "Works every time. Or threaten him with a lawsuit. That also gets people going."

Freed went back to the kitchen and began to mop up counters. On the table was a tall and elegant cake, covered with pink frosting applied with small and sweeping strokes that almost made it look like a painting. Dollops of thick cream were placed around the top edge, and her mouth watered.

"Hey, that cake-"

"Is not for you. Yajima asked me to bring it into work. He wants something for the display case and is too busy to bake something. Apparently it's packed right now." Freed untied his apron and hung it on a hook. "Which means I'll be going in early. Need anything before I go?"

"Push that big stack of books my way. I think the instructions for my knitting project is somewhere in one of the them."

He pushed over the stack with his foot while buttoning up his coat. "Get more organized." After packaging the cake into a carrier, he merely waved, said, "Bickslow will be home soon. Tell him to heat up something in the fridge, and _don't _let him turn on the oven," and was out the door.

The apartment was silent again, save for the ticking of the clock above her head. Ever started rummaging through the stack of books, quickly flipping through the pages and tossing it aside when she didn't find the instructions to her project. There were books on botany, exotic flowers, gardening tips, fantasy novels, manga of all variety, and more. She eventually found the instructions in a dogeared and marked up copy of "Advanced Horticulture," of all things.

Sighing, she unfolded the instructions, read through them, and picked up her project. The soft _ding!_ of the bell downstairs, muffled through the floor, told her that Annie and Lilica had probably gone home for the day after cleaning up the mess. Leaning over the windowsill, she could peer out and see them walking together and disappearing into the large crowd of people outside.

She wondered if the white-haired man- Elfman, if she remembered correctly- had made it home safely and without getting into another fight. Ever could understand why he had gotten into the fight; he was big. Laxus and Bickslow had gotten into lots of fights in high school, many of them unprovoked, simply because of their height and muscle mass. Something about those kinds of people screamed "fight me, I dare you!," even if they wound up only being gentle giants.

"Damn nuisance," she muttered to herself while the knitting needles began to clack together. "I don't care if he's the softest, nicest guy in the world. I'm gonna work that man to the bone."


	3. eccentric

**a/n**: AHHAH GUESS WHO FINALLY FINISHED CHAPTER 3 (it me). anyways, i hope i'll be able to churn out chapters a bit more quickly now... the story won't have tons and lots of plot, but rather be a collection of drabbles, i think, sort of linked by smol amounts of plot? i hope it will be nice ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

* * *

"You're back a little late," Lisanna said when he came through the door.

The flowers were still gripped tightly in his hands. Sweat came rushing down the back of his neck, and he was struggling for breath. The chill air outside had done nothing to calm his burning. Mirajane came out from the kitchen and took the flowers from Elfman.

"So pretty," she confirmed. "I've been getting my flowers from them for the past couple of months, but I really should have been doing business there sooner."

Mira pulled the plastic from the stems and put them in a prepared vase on the counter, right near the display case full of cakes. She rested her chin on a hand and kept observing them, clearly relaxing now that there were only a few customers left in the café. Lisanna was starting to nibble on a biscuit. Elfman stood there, still sweating buckets.

"M-maybe, uh, you _should _find a different shop, Mira," he grumbled. "I mean, they're nice, but, um, couldn't you find something… _better_?"

Mirajane's scrutinizing gaze fell upon him. She looked almost deeply offended. "Elfman! That's just rude! These are perfectly lovely flowers. I've never had displays quite so well put together as these ones. It's not like you to say something like that."

"Something must have happened," Lisanna confirmed. The girl had her arms stretched out lazily over the counter. "He's sweating. He does that when something happens."

"Everyone sweats!" Elfman defended. He only got a sweet giggle back from his younger sister. He turned back to Mira. "Look, I may have… ruined her shop. The lady who runs it. And, sis, she's _scary_."

He got to thinking about the woman again, with her fire-eyes and hard body. She definitely looked like she could do some damage if she was angry, no matter how small she was. There was something cold and passionate about her that put fear deep into his heart.

Mira blinked, then smiled with a tilt of her head. Lisanna's mouth was a perfect "O" shape. The last group of customers loitering around seemed to sense that there was "family business" going on, left a tip, and scurried out the door into the late afternoon. Mirajane waved politely to them, locked the door as they left, and pulled the shades down over the windows. Perhaps wisely, Lisanna began to move anything breakable in the close vicinity; salt and pepper shakers, the cake case, glasses, she swept it all down the counter. Elfman took a step back and considered using a trash can lid as a shield as his sister stepped closer to him.

Her smile broke. Her small hands slapped against his chest, and she looked absolutely frightening. "You did _what_?" Her voice was unusually close to a shrieking sound. "You did _what_? _Ruined _her _shop_? _How _did you do that? _Why _did you do that? What did she do?"

Lisanna slid into the conversation. "I-I'm sure Elfman wouldn't do something like that _intentionally_. Or maybe he's telling a funny joke!" Hopefully, she looked up at him, but he shook his head back at her grimly. "D-don't get mad, Mira..."

"Lisanna!" she scolded. "He broke a _shop_!"

"In my defense," Elfman started, "this guy decided to pick a fight with me, just out of the blue. And he shoved me through her window! Nobody got hurt. Just… one smashed window and some ruined flowers."

Mira was now pacing in circles, slowly lowering her heel with each step. Her fingertips were squeezing the bridge of her nose and her arms were crossed over her chest. The youngest sister turned off the chipper music in the background and awkwardly squirmed next to her older brother.

"I already offered to pay her back," he said. "And I'm going to do some work for her as soon as she reopens. Though I don't know how I'll do in such an unmanly place… But I-I'll fix it! Promise."

"You better," Mirajane said. Her pacing didn't cease. "I hope she still lets me buy from her. I hope this isn't bad for business… What happened to that other man?"

"Ran off," Elfman told her. "Really unmanly."

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"Not really. I had a bloody nose and have some bruises, but I've had worse."

"Lisanna, please put some ice on your brother's nose. It _is _looking a little bit busted."

The young woman led him into the small kitchen and set him down on a stool. The firm _clack _from out in the café indicated that their sister was still pacing. The sound ominously hung over them while Lisanna pressed chilling ice to his nose. They listened with bated breath.

"She only paces like this when she's really angry!" Lisanna whispered. "What are you going to do?"

"I-I can only take it like a man!" Elfman glowered at the ground. "And if I ever see that guy again, he's gonna have hell to pay!"

The clicking of Mirajane's heels only stopped after three, very long, minutes. His nose felt numb from the ice, but he held it on as she lightly stomped into the kitchen, hoping it would possibly make him look pitiful enough for his sister to take mercy on him. The way her eyes had cooled down was a good indication, and the twist of her lip, something he knew so well, told him that she was trying to stay mad, but wasn't succeeding.

At last, she sighed. "I won't stay mad. If the store owner has already had her way, then it's none of my business. Just help me clean up, then let's all go to relax. I think it's been too exciting of a day."

In unison, Elfman and Lisanna let out a sigh. Her rare fury had been avoided and peace was in the kitchen. Lisanna went to work scrubbing at dishes in the sink, while Elfman picked up a dish tray and shouldered the kitchen door back open. An exciting day indeed.

* * *

The door slammed open, sending a strong gust into the room. The pages to Evergreen's knitting instructions flapped around and her ball of yarn gently rolled out of it's basket. Bickslow was there in the doorway, a bag of chips in a hand and groceries hanging off of his arms.

"Hey," she greeted casually.

"The window is broken!" he told her.

"Wow, I sure didn't know."

"What happened?" He released the groceries from his arms. They toppled to the ground and a tomato rolled out across the floor. "It's gettin' drafty down there."

"There was a fight in front of the shop," she explained. "A guy got smashed through the window."

"Did you give 'em a beating?" he asked. The couch creaked as he slumped down and pulled the chip bag open. The scent of oil and salt wafted through the room. "I'll bet you did."

Ever's eye twitched. She missed a knot on her knitting. "Weeeelllll…"

When Bickslow scoffed, shards of chip flew onto the coffee table. "Don't tell me you went easy. What, was one of 'em cute?"

Ever yanked the thread on her project a bit too hard. It tightened around the knitting needle uncomfortably. "One of them ran. He knocked over a trash can and I fell over it. That's how my ankle wound up like this. The other turned out to be a _customer_."

"Awkward much?"

"Tell me about it." Evergreen sighed and started a new row. "In any case, he actually took responsibility and agreed to pay me back and also do some work while my ankle patches up."

"It would've been best if he never broke the window," he exclaimed.

"True. The fight did seem to be the other guy's fault, though. The one that ran away."

Bickslow waved around a chip before crunching it down. "Guys that initiate fights are always cowards. I'm not surprised he ran away."

With an unease settling into the pits of her stomach, Ever rolled up the knitting and set it down properly into the basket. Her ankle was still smarting, though lacked the fiery sensation it had had earlier. Her roommate had gone to the fridge while she'd been rubbing it irritatedly and came back to press a package of frozen carrots against the swelling. Without an inch of tact, he afterwards rubbed the chip-oil on his fingers onto her bandages.

"Gross," she muttered, sticking out her tongue.

"You're gross," he countered. "And now Freed's gone before I get home… Who's gonna make me an after-work snack now?"

"You _just _ate chips," Ever told him. "And Freed had work early. The restaurant was packed, apparently."

With a huff and a grumble, the man flopped down in his chair. Peeking to ensure that Ever was glaring at him and giving him attention, he groaned and fidgeted about. The young lady merely sniffed and silence cloaked the room.

"How was work?" she questioned.

"Pretty okay," he responded. "Saw some weird requests today, though. One guy asked my buddy for a 'rainbow dog' on his bicep."

"Does that… have meaning?"

"No. He just… wanted a colorful dog permanently inked into his skin."

"Interesting. Also, Freed said you aren't allowed to turn on the oven."

"I wasn't gonna!" He sunk down further into the seat, as though trying to fuse with the cushions. "I only almost burned the kitchen down twice, and suddenly I'm the worst and can't be trusted with even a butter knife."

"I wouldn't trust you with a butter knife."

"I handle pointy needles all day!" he protested. "I stab people with a needle. Daily! And I get paid to do it."

She shrugged and reached for a phonebook in the middle of the stack next to her. She would have to call the repairman soon, before the shop closed for the day, and then try to calm Laxus down when he came smashing into the apartment, demanding to know what had happened and who he had to beat up. He got too riled too easily and it had been an issue since high school.

Surprisingly, however, when he walked in as soon as she was off the phone, he was calm. There was a small box in his hand from the bakery behind the shop, and he didn't flinch when Bickslow began rabbling and ranting about the windows and the bastards who had crashed right into the shop and broken everything.

"You aren't mad!" Bickslow said incredulously. "Why aren't you mad? The shop is wrecked!"

"I already got all my anger out." He set down the box on the counter and held up his phone. "Freed called and explained so I 'didn't do anymore damage to the shop.' Damn nuisance, patronizing me for no reason."

"I know, right?" Bickslow sympathized. "No respect at all for the eccentric."

Laxus pulled off his work gloves. "Don't lump me in with you."

"Betrayal!"

With not a glance in her direction or so much as a smile, he opened up the box, displaying a small, white-cream-covered cake. On a greedy instinct, Bickslow went in for it, but Laxus slapped his hand away. The tall man slunk back with a trace of a whine and leaned against the cabinet behind him.

"I guess I got you a 'sorry-someone-broke-your-shop' cake. You can eat it."

"Bring it to me. Freed'll get mad if I stand up."

"Freed's not here."

"What if I said I was just lazy?"

"I would appreciate your honesty and bring you the cake." Laxus dumped it and a plastic fork onto her lap. "When's the shop gonna be fixed?"

"They said they'll send a guy over tomorrow and get started on clearing out the rest of the glass," she said. "And then they'll get started on putting in a new window the day after the next. I'll open up in a week, I assume."

Bickslow plucked the fork full of cake from her fingers and popped it into his mouth, then dropped it back in the box. "I'm gonna beat up that guy when he has to come by to help," he said, patting his bicep.

"Whoa, you're making him be a work dog?" Laxus sat back on the coffee table. "Count me in for giving him a beating. Two does more damage than one."

* * *

Elfman was having a day. The fifth day of his temporary job at the flower shop, and he was having a _day_. The two other shop girls kept staring at him and whispering behind their hands, he'd broken probably around five vases within the first three hours of being there, and Evergreen kept yelling at him and made him sweep endlessly. The only thing keeping back his own bitter remarks was the way she limped around and stared at her shop window, the glass still frosty-new.

It was his fault, and he'd be damned if he let himself be so rude to her.

"Careful!"

He stumbled forward as soon as he felt his back connect with something. Evergreen rushed forward and caught it- a vase- with grace and gently placed it back on the shelf, then proceeded to fluff the flowers inside. She sighed and leaned backwards on her heels. Her weight went to her uninjured foot and she looked off-balance.

"Sorry," he mumbled, and continued to sweep the floor free of brittle leaves and old petals.

"You're too big for this sort of environment," she huffed, a hand pressed to her face. "What was I thinking?"

"I-I could work outside!" he concluded. "You've got stuff out there, right? I could replace the flowers, or fix that sign. It sounds like the hinges are all rusty, and that's the sort of stuff I'm okay at."

Evergreen looked back at her staff, the red-headed girl and her tall companion, and sighed. The former looked to be shaking in her boots with him being so close to her and the later was trying too hard to appear aloof. She seemed to take pity on them.

"You can go outside," she told him. "While you're at the sign, when you and that guy knocked over that cart, it busted one of the legs and the wheel. I'd like it fixed."

"I won't let you down!"

The second the bell on the door rang, the redhead let out a soft wheeze and leaned against a fridge of bouquets. The way she was afraid of him made him uncomfortable, but she was small and he was big, and he _had _come crashing in and probably almost smashed her. Part of the reason she'd sent him out was because he was distracting her employees, probably. It was difficult to work when you were worried about a giant falling on you.

Evergreen went and retrieved a toolbox upstairs. The tools looked well-used, and he wondered if she herself was handy, or if it was her boyfriend who did the work. In all honestly, she looked like she was more capable with tools than him.

The cart was easily fixable; nothing had splintered or broken, but it was a bit lopsided and the wheel had to be rotated and screwed back on. The rough wind had sprinkled petals into his hair from the top of the cart and Elfman irritatedly ruffled them away. Very unmanly.

As he turned to examine the sign, a young man, barely older than him, stepped in front and leaned against the shop. He was easily identifiable, with light brown hair that stuck out, oddly enough, like cat ears, and a signature pair of sunglasses resting on his nose.

Loke whistled. "Boy oh boy, you really did it, Lisanna tells me."

Elfman sighed and grabbed the rusty hinges. "You don't have to tell me. Damn idiot, starting a fight with me- he should be the one who's her work dog."

Loke leaned to the side and peered in the shop. "Who's the lady you pissed off? Tall one? Redhead? Or that cutie with the curls, maybe?"

A warm feeling spread over his face and he scowled. "There's nothing cute about her, 'cept for that face. She's not nearly my size and she _intimidated _me. No man has ever done that to me."

"She's not a man, dude." Loke helped steady the sign in the wind so Elfman could examine it and kept looking in. "Hard to think that such a cute woman has such a nasty personality- Or, maybe, it's just _you _she's not cute to. You _did _bust up her shop."

Elfman stopped with the sign and glared down at Loke from the top of a ladder. "Fine. Go see for yourself. If you wanna go try to charm her and get her to be 'cute,' be my guest."

Loke brushed his jacket and smoothed his hair briefly, then prepared his most charming, lady-killer smile. "I'll do you one better, my good friend: I'll convince her to let you go, and you can be home-free and with your sisters, just like you prefer."

"Seriously?"

A small flicker of hope was starting in his chest as he watched Loke head into the florist. The hinges on the sign were squeaking again, and he scowled and wrestled with them, occasionally peeking over to check his friend's progress. Evergreen had stopped putting a corsage together when Loke tapped her shoulder. She spun on her stool to give him her full attention. The young man was talking with his hands, his smile on full-blast, and the brunette seemed to be talking politely back, but he seemed to be becoming more nervous, his hands waving a bit more and his smile faltering occasionally.

The sign was fixed by the time Loke came out of the shop, a smile frozen on his face and a bead of sweat working its way down his skin. Even when Elfman came down from the ladder and asked how it went, he didn't respond and kept walking down the street.

"Loke! Get back here!" His hand shot out and grabbed the collar of the other man's shirt, and Loke began walking backwards to relieve the tension on his clothes. "What happened in there? You look like you saw a ghost. That facial expression isn't very manly, you know."

He hesitated for a second. "She was… nice."

"She's formal," Elfman corrected. "Polite, at most."

"She wasn't unpleasant," he continued slowly. "Very nice at keeping up a conversation."

"You got lucky. So, did you get me out of this? Am I free?"

Loke's smile broke quickly, in the blink of an eye, and he gripped Elfman's shirt tightly. "She's _freaky_. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, and she wasn't at all charmed by me! That hasn't happened in _years_. Her face was so blank and, God, her eyes, man. I couldn't look away from them." He shuddered. "She made me feel like a statue. I couldn't even bring you up I was so freaked. And if I had, I don't think you're getting out of this one."

Elfman sighed and wiped Loke's hand from his shirt. "I guess I'll just do it the manly way. Work for a little bit more and then pay her back. I'll be short on cash after, but this isn't really my kind of environment, so it'll probably be worth it." He scowled. "And I _really _don't like her."

Loke's lips quirked up and down in a nervous way, and his nose just about twitched. He looked more like a cat than ever. "Probably worth it? _Definitely _worth it! She's scary! She's probably planning to eat you! Did you see her muscles?" He shuddered. "She could kick my ass with those biceps."

"Are you two friends?"

The florist had walked out of her shop and an obvious chill wracked Loke's body. Her gaze was still cold and even and Elfman wondered if she _ever _showed joy or anything besides anger or annoyance or neutrality. Her face looked bland, as though she hadn't smiled in a long, long time, and it made him angry. Why not smile when there was so much to smile _about_?

"Yes! A-and I'm leaving him to his work now. Both of you, have a nice day!" Loke waved a hand, and he looked to be running almost as fast as the cars on the street drove as he fled.

"Eccentric," was all Evergreen said about that, and then she looked at him. There was a plastic grocery bag in her hand, and he couldn't see what was inside. "I'm heading out to run an errand. Lilica and Annie are holding the fort down. You can leave in about an hour, if I'm not back."

"How kind," he said to her back, and he went inside.

The redhead (Annie, he'd put together) was speaking with the green-haired man from the couple of weeks before, and he could practically see hearts dancing above her head as she did. While the man kept a cordial air as he spoke with her, his atmosphere completely changed as he glared daggers over her head at Elfman. He couldn't come up to Elfman's neck, and he looked unthreatening in a pair of nice pants and a gentlemanly red cardigan, but something about him was "dark," oddly enough.

"I'll see you again on my way out, Annalie," he said, and he walked up the stairs in the back of the ship, vanishing.

"What's up there? And who's that?" Elfman asked.

Lilica, the tall girl with dark ebony skin, piled a box of assorted flowers into his arms, and spoke. "Put these in the refrigerator over there. It's too warm to leave them out." She shifted and took up a box of her own and answered his question. "The boss lives in the apartment upstairs. And that was Freed, her roommate. He's a really good chef."

_Oh_. So she had a live-in boyfriend. He shouldn't have been surprised, because she was an attractive woman, and he certainly shouldn't have felt so wrong about it, not so bristly and a bit uncomfortable at it.

Elfman quietly observed Freed as he exited the shop a quarter-of-an-hour later- he admitted begrudgingly that he was very good-looking, and had all the appearance of a well-disciplined and educated man, in an old-fashioned sense. He exited the shop, pulled a book out of his messenger bag, and went down the street reading it.

A while after that, just when he was about to leave and head home so he could figure out how to pay her back quickly and get out of this hellish mess, a blur charged down the stairs, alarming both the shop girls and him. It was a tall man, with shaggy and piecey black and blue hair. His red shirt had the name of a band he'd never heard of, and he was wearing black shorts and was barefoot. He was gripping a clear bag filled with colorful candies and looked down at them excitedly.

"Ever, I forgot to show you the other day, but I got these gummy candies at the store! They've got juice inside and are shaped like octopu-"

Elfman's mind immediately began jumping to vivid conclusions. _Another_ one? This guy had come charging straight down from where Evergreen and her boyfriend lived. She had _two_ boyfriends? Did this one even _know_ about Freed? Did Freed know about _him_?

He stopped when he saw Elfman and gave an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, didn't know there was a customer in."

"This is the guy who broke the window," Lilica corrected. "Definitely not our customers."

His entire demeanor shifted. The wide smile turned down into a frown just as deep and his face looked dark and very intimidating- Elfman, however, barely registered this, because he was tall and strong and not easily unnerved, _unless_ a tiny brunette florist was staring up at him.

The man shoved the candy into the arms of Annie, who squeaked and scurried away as far as she could, and stalked towards him with long hands that twitched like they just longed to wrap around his neck.

Elfman stumbled back, massively alarmed at this. Just a second ago, this guy had been goofy as could be, grinning like a kid and eager to show _(his girlfriend?)_ Evergreen a bag of _octopus candy. _And now he had the appearance of a seasoned thug, like the bullies who had beat on him in high school.

It made him really uneasy. He didn't like fighting. He'd hated those high school thugs, with their slicked back hair and sneers and dangerous personalities.

"You busted up my girl's shop?" he asked.

"Um." A blush had sprawled on his face as the man confirmed that he was indeed involved with Evergreen. "On... accident? Yeah, accident."

"Accident don't cut it!" he snarled. "Oh boy, been a long time since I had a _real_ good reason to punch a guy. I'm gonna-"

The sound of the store bell clanging stopped everyone in their tracks. A slightly aging man was at the door, but he took a good look at the inside, with two shop girls and a mountain of a man leaning precariously away from a tall, gangly man with his fists raised. He sighed deeply and shut the door. They waited until the clang of the bell had stopped, then the man began to prowl forward again.

Before he came past the final shelf, so near to Elfman, another man, considerably younger, walked through the door. He was tall, just as tall as Elfman's opponent, and his hair was short and blond. He wore simple jeans and a button-up shirt over hard muscles; a scar raced over one side of his stiff and bored face, which looked at the store, annoyed.

"What in the hell's goin' on here?" He looked at the blue-haired man. "Bickslow?"

Bickslow straightened up and shoved one fist down to his side. Much like a child, he pointed the other right at Elfman and said, "This is the guy who busted the window to Ever's store, Laxus!"

The blond man quickly looked just as fierce as Bickslow, switching from boredom to ferocity in the blink of an eye. Elfman swallowed, intimidated by _this_ one for sure. He was tall and almost as muscular as Elfman; with a solid punch, he could do as much damage as he pleased. He swallowed, gripped his fists tightly, braced his body, and waited for the punches. The shop would suffer less damage if he stood still and became a punching bag.

But the blows didn't come at all, because the welcoming bell rang and a small hand reached up and slammed into Laxus' face, squishing up his cheek.

Evergreen had returned just in time.

Laxus looked down at her with a grimace and lowered his raised fist. She looked completely minuscule compared to him, but she seemed to match him in presence.

"You came home early," she said as she held his face.

Elfman's heart jumped.

_Another one!_

"Garage was slow," he grunted. "Came home to nap."

"Ever, your timing is crap!" Bickslow exclaimed. " I would've wrecked this guy if you hadn't shown up!"

"Translation: you would've wrecked my shop as well." She sighed. "Just leave him alone."

Evergreen walked past them, every pair of wide eyes on her as she sat down behind the counter once more. She picked up a pen and began to write on a paper, proceeding with her business as usual. Her employees blinked, looked at one another, and hesitantly began setting flowers into the coolers. Laxus and Bickslow had come together in the middle of the store and were glaring at him together.

The awkwardness in the room was practically tangible. He could've reached out and _touched _it.

There were a few things Elfman wanted to say to Evergreen: _I can't work here anymore. I'll pay you in full now. Who are these guys? Where did you go? Why are you so casual? _

_**Who are these guys?**_

What came out, rather, was "How many boyfriends do you _have_?"

Everyone in the room reacted differently: Bickslow let out a grunt and slammed his hand on a shelf nearby, Laxus blinked at him and rubbed his hand against his face tiredly, Annie dropped a pile of daisies, and Lilica sputtered like she was trying to gasp and laugh simultaneously.

Elfman stood quietly, a cold sweat starting as he regretted what he had mindlessly said and Evergreen stopped her paperwork and looked up at him.

Her eyes were fire again. Paralyzing. Stunning. He couldn't move when she fixed him with those eyes.

"They're my roommates. We've been friends since I was in middle school," she said slowly. "And even _if _I had multiple significant others, tell me, what business of yours would it be?"

"S-sorry, I-"

"You can leave now," she dismissed. "I've got a large shipment of vases coming in tomorrow that'll need to be unpacked- I'd like it if you could come in around noon."

"I won't be working anymore!" he said nervously and, again, mindlessly.

The footsteps behind him indicated that Bickslow was probably marching towards him, but then the command "freeze" and muttering said that Laxus had stopped him in his tracks. Lilica kept looking at him, forgetting her work, but Annie was working harder than ever to avoid the conversation. She shoved flowers into the coolers so quickly that some lost their petals. Evergreen herself clenched her fist around the pen, then released it slowly and sighed.

"You owe me almost-"

"I'll pay you back in full," he muttered. "I just don't think I'm a good fit for this place."

He almost added, in his intense dislike of her, "_you make me uncomfortable,_" but she beat him to the chase.

Her fingers drummed against the counter. "Fine. I don't care, so long as I get my payment. I quite dislike you, in fact. I wouldn't mind having you out."

A slap to the face.

Now Elfman was glad he hadn't said it; he'd hate to make someone feel the way he was.

"Really?" he growled, leaning in to her.

"Really." She stood from the stool and stood on her tiptoes, glaring up her nose at him. "Repay me for the damn mess you made. Then you never have to come here again. I don't ever have to see your ugly mug."

Bickslow was coughing into his hand to disguise a laugh. Laxus was gazing at the ceiling with quivering lips. Elfman decided that he didn't care for the two.

Frustrated, he slammed his hands on the table. The young woman didn't flinch, even as a vase filled with water and stems hopped and tipped and spilled onto the table. Damn idiotic place, with the two annoying employees and their bitchy boss and her slack-jawed lackeys that had almost pounded him into the window again.

Elfman turned on his heel, a grumble rumbling in his chest. The store was silent save for the shop girls opening and closing refrigerator doors aimlessly, and he crossed the space, grabbed his coat, and jammed his arms through.

"I'll drop by the check later," he huffed, and slammed the door behind him.


	4. beginning

**a/n**: i love my children,, also, i noticed a lot of grammatical errors and such in previous chapters, so i've spent a lot of time going back and fixing those! if you want to reread the previous three chapters, there may also be new tidbits and details and it might flow smoother!

* * *

Bickslow whistled as the door slammed shut. "Yikes. Now there's a guy who can be scary when he's mad."

Laxus elbowed him. "Y'scared to punch 'im now?"

Bickslow clenched his fist. "Nah. I think I could do a number on him, no matter what. I've got fists of steel." He tossed his head towards Ever, who was now spraying plants with mist to keep herself occupied. "Hey, Ever, is it okay if I punch if I see him somewhere?"

A particularly harsh blast of water came from the spray bottle. "Of course. Like I said, I don't like him. He's loud, large, clumsy, insensitive, an-"

"Okay, okay, you think he's the world's biggest tool," Laxus wrapped up. "But you ain't a charmer though either."

She snapped her head towards him and fixed him with a look. "He broke my shop!"

Laxus threw up his hands and walked towards the stairs in the back. Before he climbed up, he snatched the abandoned toolbox off her desk, muttered, "This is mine," and went up to the apartment. Bickslow tiptoed about, looking at things here and there while customers walked in and out, and finally went over to Ever while pulling something out of his pocket.

"I found these," he said. "At the store the other day. It's a bag of gummies shaped like octopuses. They've also got juice inside."

"Octopi," she corrected absentmindedly. "Multiple octopus are called octopi."

"Yeah yeah." He put them on her desk. "Just cheer up, okay? Tomorrow's a brand new day. That guy won't matter in two days, promise."

She listened to his clunking footsteps vanish up the stairs, heard the door slam, and threw her head upon the desk. The water from the vase the oaf had spilled leaked into her hair; she huffed in irritation against the wood.

"Boss?"

"Leave me alone."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Lisanna was busing tables when he came through the door, and she looked shocked and wary to see him.

"You're home a bit early," she said hesitantly.

Elfman took a deep breath, noticing that customers were looking at him, and slid a hand down over his face. He took the dish bin from Lisanna and began putting the dishes in it.

"I'll do that. Go help Mira in the kitchen."

The young woman glared at him suspiciously and went to the kitchen, though she didn't look happy about her curiosity going unsated.

Evergreen's words were still ringing in his mind. _(I quite dislike you.) _He did his best to focus only on the clamor of the guests and let the sting of the words melt away. It shouldn't have bothered him that she said that. He didn't like her either. It didn't matter.

"Elfman! Long time no see!"

The dish bin almost fell out of his hands as he turned. Behind him, coming just up to his chest, was a young girl with long blonde hair and bright brown eyes. She was wearing a short-sleeved red t-shirt, a knee-length black skirt, and a black headband was holding her bangs back. There was a waist apron tied around her middle and she was holding a tray of drinks and cookies in a hand while she smiled up at him.

"Lucy!" he exclaimed, leaning down a bit to talk to her. "You're working here now?"

"Mira hired me today," she said with a grin. "All thanks to you!"

"Me?"

"Yeah! Apparently, you told her a while ago that she needed more help in here, so she hired me and Levy to help out. Both of us are pretty competent cooks, but she needed more help waiting on tables than anything."

"That's great!" He followed her while she walked through the mazes of tables. "How's school going?"

"It's… going," she sighed. "My English classes are kicking my butt. It's a really hard language. None of the rules are ever consistent!"

Elfman had never been good at English. At all. He'd only ever barely passed the class in high school, and that was with Loke's constant and expert assistance. He hadn't been a dumb student, but he hadn't been a student who excelled, either. He was just painfully average, as he was in most everything.

"You're studying Japanese literature this semester, right?" he asked.

"Yup. Levy's in most of my classes with me!"

"I see. That's good!" he told her enthusiastically.

He stood back a ways while Lucy served the guests their drinks, waiting until she rejoined him. She seemed chipper and at ease, and though her happy attitude always rubbed off, he found himself wishing that he had the exact same composure as her at that moment.

"So what's up?" she finally asked. "You seem tense."

Elfman bristled and clutched the dish bin a bit closer. "Did my sisters tell you about what happened a few weeks ago?"

"Nope. Haven't heard a thing," she said.

He set the dish bin on the kitchen's counter and Lisanna came and took it. Lucy disappeared into the back room, where normally he and his sisters took their breaks alone, and there was Levy McGarden sitting at the table, spectacles perched on the edge of her short nose, clicking away at a laptop in front of her. She looked up at them and a massive smile crossed her heart-shaped face.

"Elfman! How've you been? It's been months, hasn't it?"

"We saw each other at the get-together this past March," he reminded.

Levy still smiled dazzlingly. "Lu and I are so happy you got us these jobs. We could do with the extra cash."

"Levy wants more money to blow on books," Lucy said with a smirk.

The short woman laced her fingers. "I am no liar, and so I will not deny that."

"I didn't do much," he protested, waving his hands. "I just off-handedly mentioned to Mira that she was stressed and she needed help, so-"

"So it was, indirectly as it may be, because of you." Levy twirled her finger, as though to signal that the conversation was wrapped up. "In any case, Lisanna told me that you're in a bit of a pinch."

"Awww, she told you, but not me?" Lucy pouted and put her hands on her hips, staring defiantly at Levy.

Levy ignored her and kept typing. When Elfman glanced at the papers to her left, they were records and bills and other numbers that made his head hurt, but they probably delighted her.

"Apparently, Elfman is indebted to Magnolia's scariest florist," she said finally, a tone of amusement barely laced into her voice. "That's what Lisanna says."

"Well, damn it, Elfman!" Lucy glared at him. "Why'd you have to go and do that?"

A blush covered his cheeks. "It wasn't my fault! A guy picked a fight with me and I… fell… into her, uh, shop."

Levy carried on as though neither of them had spoken. "He's been working for her for, what, a week now?"

"That's correct."

Mirajane walked in right behind them, her hands on her hips. She was wearing a light blue frock and a beige waist apron and looked rather cross. The topic of Elfman breaking the Rose Garden was always a bit of a touchy subject for her, because she thought that she would "never be able to go back there again and get such pretty flowers."

"Hey, sis."

"How much longer have you got to go?" she asked, glaring up at him.

"I was supposed to have a month left," he muttered.

Levy raised an eyebrow. "_Supposed_ to?"

Mira narrowed her eyes. "Elfman Strauss, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Means I'm not working in that unmanly place anymore. We don't like each other, so I told her I'd just pay her back in full tomorrow." He could not bear to look at her.

Lucy whistled. "Yikes."

"How much is that going to be?" Mira asked, almost like she was afraid.

"10,000 yen," he muttered.

A high-pitched noise came out of Lucy's throat, Levy choked a little bit on her drink, and Mira's face immediately went to her hands. "I'm going back to the kitchen," was all she said and then she was gone.

"This florist lady must be scary if she drove you off," Lucy marveled.

"I wasn't scared!" Elfman defended. "She's just unpleasant and rude and mean! She even scared Loke, of all people."

After all he'd said, this seemed to be the thing that rattled Lucy. Her hands fell from her hips and she stared blankly at him.

"Loke?" she echoed. "My Loke? My ex-bodyguard Loke?"

"Loke," Elfman affirmed.

"She scared him?"

"With just a look."

Levy was trying to drink her beverage chalantly, but her hands were trembling just a bit- she was trying not to laugh.

"I told you, the lady is totally unmanly and scary! I'd hate to spend just one more minute with her."

"I'd honestly love to meet a woman who could scare Loke," Lucy muttered, and she put a finger to her chin and looked up to the ceiling. "She must be pretty tall-"

"She's kinda short."

"-she probably has scary black hair, like Gajeel-"

"Brown. Curly. Crazy."

"-a mean expression!"

"She always looks bored. Doesn't make many facial expressions."

"-maybe she's buff!"

"She's got muscle."

"-piercing eyes, too. Those would scare 'im."

"They're brown. Scary. Makes me feel like she's going to eat me or turn me to stone."

Elfman looked back down from Lucy and Levy, done studying the ceiling. He hadn't realized he'd been correcting Lucy as she'd gone along with her imagination, but by the looks they were giving him, he definitely had. The young women looked at each other, grinned, and leaned up towards Elfman with sly looks.

"Ohhh~ Levy, I think Elfman looked at this scary florist a _lot_."

"Me too, Lu. Probably especially looked at her _eyes_~"

"N-no! I didn't! I looked at her once! Ever! Just once!"

"In the course of so long? Only once?"

Lucy leaned into Elfman and gestured at herself. "Oh? Does she have a figure like me? Or maybe one like Levy's? Is she reallllly pretty?"

He was burning worse than ever. "I. Don't. Know!"

Levy and Lucy joined hands and giggled, shooting him cruel looks. "Elfman totally likes her!"

"G-" His throat was closing up, and he felt hot. Too hot. Hotter than even when _she _looked at him. And he felt really hot when she fixed those eyes on him. Elfman swallowed, shook his head slightly, and pointed sternly to the door. "Get back to work! Or I'll tell Mira to fire you!"

Of course, he wouldn't really. Mira would never listen to him, and besides, he liked them far too much to ever cause them harm.

Lucy walked past him with a slight skip in her step. "Can't wait to tell everyone~ Cana will want to know, and so will Gray and Natsu and Juvia and-"

"I don't like her! I just- I just ruined her shop!"

Lucy stopped at the doorway, grinned at him, and left with only a slightly ominous: "That's just where it starts, right?"


End file.
